Landscape

Sunrise Point, Bryce Canyon National Park

Photo of a portion of the view at Sunrise Point at sunrise.
Sunrise Point at Sunrise

I’m happy to say that I’m done upgrading the images on my website, www.jimcoda.com.  Landscapes were the last part.

This is one of my favorite landscape photos.  I was at Bryce Canyon for a long weekend a couple of years ago.  I didn’t have the time to cover it all.  Sunrise Point was my favorite spot of those that I visited.  The breadth of the view there is incredible.  It’s hard to decide what to photograph.  I shot various portions of what I saw there, but my favorite was this image which covers a very small part of the scene.

Song Bird

Western Bluebird, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of a western bluebird perching near the Estero Trailhead.
Western Bluebird, Point Reyes National Seashore

I’m almost done upgrading my website.  Having to search for the master file for every image on my website so I can enlarge it has caused me to look at nearly all the images I have and that has taken a lot of time.  It’s been very beneficial though because I’ve found a number of images that I should have put on my website when I took the photos.   This little bluebird is one.  It has everything I look for in a good wildlife photo.  It has an appealing subject, good body position/pose, good light, good color and a clean, out-of-focus background.  No distractions.  It’s now on my website.  To see the upgraded/larger image click here.

I’ve added a number of other overlooked images as well.  The tule elk portfolio is a good example.  I’ve added about 10 new images to that portfolio.  I’ve also removed several.

One thing I’ve realized doing the web upgrade is that I’ve not been paying enough attention to my website since I started doing this blog.  I’m probably not the only photo blogger doing that.  Keeping current with my website seems like a good New Year resolution.

Uncategorized

Non-Native Bird at Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of a Eurasian-collared Dove.
Eurasian-collared Dove, Native to India

As I go through my images taken at Point Reyes in upgrading the images on my website I’m finding some interesting photos I didn’t appreciate when I took them.  I took this photo last February.  I don’t think I had any thought about it at the time.   When I came across it yesterday my first thought was that it was a mourning dove.  But it didn’t look exactly like a mourning dove.  Band-tailed pigeon?  No.  It’s a Eurasian Collared-Dove.  It’s native to India.  It seems they got started in Florida (like so many things) and spread from there.  They compete with our native mourning doves.  This got me to thinking.  How many non-native birds are there in Point Reyes National Seashore (and/or Marin County for that matter)?  The ones I see most at Point Reyes are brown-headed cowbirds and European starlings.  Sometimes I’ll see a wild turkey there.  There must be house sparrows.  I think there are barred owls in the Seashore, which compete with Northern spotted owls.  What other birds?  I don’t know.  Probably several more.

Tule Elk

Seven-Point Bull

Photo of a 7-point bull bugling during the rut.
Tule Elk Bull Bugles, Point Reyes National Seashore

I’m still upgrading my website by making each image larger.  It’s a lot of work, but I think it will be a nice improvement to the site.  One extra benefit is that I’m finding some images that I like that I didn’t know I had.  This photo was taken in early August.  As I often do, I came back to this photo after I published the blog and was struck by how wide this bull can open its mouth.  For some reason, I pictured a set of canine teeth in there, developed for defensive purposes.  I wonder what wolves would say — if they had any say in it?  For that matter, I wonder what elk hunters would say?

Rocky Mountain Elk

Big Bull Elk, Yellowstone National Park

Dominant Bull
Dominant Bull

This is the largest bull elk I saw this fall in Yellowstone.  He and his harem were located south of Swan Lake.   There seems to be something wrong with his right eye.  He may be blind in that eye.  Bulls suffer many injuries during the rut.  This past fall I saw several bulls limping due to shoulder injuries.  One Yellowstone bull was famous for attacking  cars.   He was know by his ear tag as #6.  For more about him and his demise click here.

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that the rut seemed slow to me this past September in Yellowstone and wondered if it was due to weather that seemed warmer than usual for that time of year.  There may have been other factors.  I just found an article in the Huffington Post from last January that reported that the Yellowstone herd was down about 25% from the previous year due to several possible factors, including weather, increased hunting success due to November snow storms that pushed more elk than usual out of the park during the hunting season, and wolves.  Less accurate counting may have also been a factor.

Speaking of elk, I just finished upgrading the Rocky Mountain Elk Portfolio on my website.  You can see that portfolio here.

Pronghorn

Pronghorn Buck in the Rut

A photo of a pronghorn facing the camera.
Pronghorn Buck, Yellowstone National Park

I’m still working on upgrading the images on my website.  I’ve finished the mammals that start with a “B” (six species) and jumped ahead a bit to look at the pronghorn images from my trip to Yellowstone this past September.  The pronghorn rut was underway.  This buck was curious about me and came in for a closer look.

Bison

Bull Bison, Yellowstone National Park

Photo of bull bison standing on trail.
“Sure, I’ll get off the trail when you get here.”

Bison are docile creatures and seem fairly harmless.  However, they injure more people in Yellowstone each year than all the other species combined.

Photo showing full body profile of bison bull.
Buffalo Nickel Pose

I’m still upgrading all the images on my website.  I just finished the bison portfolio.  All the “B” mammals are done, except bobcats.  To go to my website click here.